Friedman said he suspects he will be the only candidate for Texas governor who will send that message to the state’s gay and lesbian community. The political parties will tell the other candidates what they can and cannot support, and that won’t be gay marriage, he said. Author, Musician, and candidate for Governor of Texas, Kinky Friedman served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malaysia in the 1960's.

Friedman, running for governor as an unaffiliated candidate, tries to shake up Texas politics

Kinky Friedman likes to quip that he supports same-sex marriage because he believes gay men and lesbians have the right to be as miserable as everyone else — and that’s not just a joke.

The musician turned-mystery-novelist who is now running as an independent candidate for governor said in an interview this week he truly believes members of the GLBT community should enjoy the same rights as straight people.

“I support gay marriage,” said Friedman, who said he was raised in a Jewish family where there was no tolerance for racism or other types of discrimination.

“Not only do I support it, it’s the right thing to do and the Christian thing to do,” he said.

Friedman said he suspects he will be the only candidate for Texas governor who will send that message to the state’s gay and lesbian community. The political parties will tell the other candidates what they can and cannot support, and that won’t be gay marriage, he said.

Friedman said he suspects Governor Rick Perry’s intolerance of same-sex marriage is more a reflection of Perry’s political aspirations than his personal beliefs.

“I think Rick Perry is probably a nice guy,” Friedman said. “If he decided personally that he wanted to support gay marriage it would be suicide for him politically.”

And although some Democrats have said they support civil unions, they have hedged on gay marriage. Both institutions are illegal in Texas since the passage of Proposition 2 last November.

Governor Rick Perry’s re-election campaign has raised more money than Kinky Friedman’s independent bid for the governor’s seat. “If I see nothing wrong with gay marriage and support it, and I see nothing wrong with nondenominational prayer in school — which I don’t with either of those things — then I’m the only candidate you will ever talk to who can advocate both positions and say there is nothing wrong with them.”

So Friedman is telling it like he sees it from one end of the state to the other, and he claims he has gotten the attention of quite a few loyal Democrats and some Republicans too.

Part of that message is that he believes gay men and lesbians are weary of the Democratic Party’s promises.

“Frankly, I think the gay and lesbian community is tired of slaving on the Democratic Party plantation,” Friedman said. “They just never do a damn thing.”

Charles Armstrong, a gay Houston nightclub owner, said he recently met Friedman at a party hosted by socialite Carolyn Farb. He was impressed but wondered if Friedman could win as an independent. He called it an “uphill hurdle.”

“It was a very interesting night,” Armstrong said. “I think he is like a genuine Texan, the epitome of what we know about Texas and our own freedoms and liberty that says government has no business in anyone’s bedroom. He conveys that.”

Armstrong said he is undecided as to whether he will support Democrat Chris Bell, of Houston, or Friedman.

Without support from a political party, most people would probably conclude that Friedman hasn’t a prayer of a chance to become Texas’ next governor. But campaign finance reports filed this week showed Friedman’s political quest is being taken seriously in some quarters.

Friedman raised more than three times as much campaign money as the two top Democratic candidates combined. He raised $1.5 million, compared to a total of $422,000 for Democratic Party candidates Chris Bell and Bob Gammage.

But even though he has leapt ahead of the Democrats in fundraising, he lags far behind incumbent Governor Rick Perry, who has raised $4.6 million and State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, another independent candidate, who has raised $2.4 million. What’s more, Perry and Strayhorn, a Republican who chose the independent route in an attempt to outmaneuver Perry, have combined campaign war chests of almost $20 million. Friedman’s cash reserves amount to only $271,000.

Despite those numbers, Friedman remains optimistic he will obtain the almost 50,000 signatures he needs to get on the November ballot. This is a man who is used to success. He made a name for himself in the 1970s traveling around the country with a country and western band called Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys.

They titillated audiences with songs like “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Asshole from El Paso.”

The band broke up in the 1980s, and Friedman began writing mystery novels that featured himself as a detective in New York. He wrote 17 mysteries over two decades before deciding to run for governor. The way Friedman sees it, many Texans are tired of corruption in government, and they want nothing to do with either Perry or Strayhorn because they associate them with it.

Political observers are predicting a huge turnout for the November election, like the one seen when Ann Richards was elected governor.

“If that happens, Perry is gone,” Friedman said.

“He needs a low turnout to save him, and he’s not going to get it. The people who have not voted in a long time are not going to be voting for Perry or Strayhorn. And the Democrats just can’t get any traction. Right now, I think we are poised perfectly.”

Friedman said he is counting on the help of the GLBT community to put him in the governor’s mansion. Members of the community are signing on as volunteers to gather signatures for his petition, he said.

“They’re kind of like school teachers,” Friedman said. “They’re a group that shows up and is responsive. We strike a chord with them.”

Friedman said he has gay relatives, and that he has always had gay friends and employees.

“I’ve always felt it was cool,” Friedman said.

As the operator of a rescue operation for stray animals, Friedman said he has come to realize gay men and lesbians made the best candidates for animal adoption.

“That’s something I noticed since we started it seven years ago,” Friedman said. “I don’t know whether that’s because many of them don’t have kids, and animals are their kids. Maybe that’s possible.”

Friedman acknowledged if he is elected governor there is little that could be done about gay marriage because of the passage of Proposition 2. He said the focus should be on making sure gay men and lesbians continue to be able to adopt children and be foster parents and securing rights regarding medical decisions, visitation and inheritance.

Better funding of education, mental and health and retardation services, children’s health insurance and AIDS services would also be on the agenda, he said.

On the Web: www.KinkyFriedman.com

E-mail webb@dallasvoice.com

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition of January 20, 2006.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in dangerWhen the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

PC establishes awards for top VolunteersGaddi H. Vasquez has established the Kennedy Service Awards to honor the hard work and service of two current Peace Corps Volunteers, two returned Peace Corps Volunteers, and two Peace Corps staff members. The award to currently serving volunteers will be based on a demonstration of impact, sustainability, creativity, and catalytic effect. Submit your nominations by December 9.

Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 yearsCongratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

'Celebration of Service' a major successThe Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here.

PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident"The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted.

The Peace Corps LibraryPeace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

Read the stories and leave your comments.

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.